i believe on christmas eve i'm the boat you are speaking of, yes i did catch my limit but ya had to weed through 20-25 to get one decent one. while i was there a carolina skiff set up shop beside me. i went back 12-30 and like you tried the river with no luck but marked the same tons of shad, ended up at the ol 64 bridge and ended up with 10 keepers and several throw backs. i saw a small aluminum boat with bee ready holders come by and sat infront of me a while was that you?